1955 MCM Home a Best Green House

This mid-century modern home in Savannah, Georgia — originally developed by John Ahern in 1955 — was recently listed as a Best Green House in Green Source Magazine. The home went through a full restoration and renovation directed by owners Cornelia Stumpf and Celestino Piralla of CSCP Consult, who ended up receiving a Silver Award for a Whole House Renovation under $200,000 from Qualified Remodeler Magazine and the President’s Award from the Historic Savannah Foundation in summer 2011.

Prior to purchase, the green home sat vacant in an estate sale for a couple years and was in the hands of a family for about 55 years prior to that. Stumpf and Piralla wanted to restore the place pursuant to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, but they also needed to maintain a budget, fix water damage, and repair a portion of the sunken foundation.

Stumpf and Piralla preserved lots of original materials, including the windows, glass sliding doors, tiles in bath, a GE oven, concrete floors, slate floor, exterior lamps/ and posts, bathroom fixtures for light and plumbing, light switches throughout, as well as the original layout and features such as the fireplace, soffit lights, and post and beam ceiling.

They added spray foam in the roof, a clear-coated tongue and groove wood in the ceiling, and a new pool in the backyard (shown below). They removed old carpet and wallpaper and repaired the existing concrete floor. They also installed a new ground drainage system to keep water from infiltrating the home in the future.

Some of the products incorporated into the renovation include FLOR carpet tiles, Bosch washer and dryer, Fagor induction cooktop, Caesarstone counters, Bazzeo cabinets, Blanco sink and faucet, Liebherr fridge and freezer, solar shades on the windows, high-efficiency wood doors, and Sherwin Williams paints, to name osme of the tjre